The Starfleet Technical Manual gave us a view of the Star Trek universe that
we never saw in the episodes of Star Trek, including several types of
starships. While digging through my parts box, I came across an old Classic
Enterprise. Most of the parts were there and I started to wonder what I
could do with it. Then I thought that I would convert the ship into a
Ptolemy Class Tug. I choose the Tug because I thought it was a unique
design and I have never seen a built-up model of the ship.

My goal was to build a model that matched the schematics in the Starfleet Technical Manual as closely as possible.

The Tug

To prepare the model, I stripped the old paint and decals off using
Easy-off. I then scrubbed the model parts and set them aside. During this
process, I lost one of the reactor control loops that attach to the inside
of the Warp Nacelles. I asked around and several people recommended the
resin add-on parts by Accurate Parts available from Federation Models. I ordered just about every part they make. I also ordered Sci-Fi Spaceship
Miniatures Cargo Container.

Once the resin add-on parts and the Cargo Container arrived, I began
construction. First, I sanded the parts lightly to remove any remaining
paint. I sanded down the joints to remove the old glue. With the parts now
cleaned up, I began to remove the inaccurate kit details. I sanded the
raised grid off the top, and sanded the inaccurate details off the bottom of
the saucer. Then I cut the four Flux Chillers off the ends of the Nacelles.
I cut the old bridge off the kit. I also cut the Dorsal off the Secondary
hull. With the Ertl parts modified, I began assembly.

I filled the holes on the Warp Nacelles with putty and set them aside. I
glued the new bridge into the hole on the top of the saucer. Looking at the
picture in the Starfleet Technical Manual (STM) I noticed a raised area on
the hull behind decks 2-3 that ran to the detail piece on the rear of the
saucer. I cut out a rectangular piece of .04 thousandths sheet styrene and glued it in
place.

I now began wondering how to make the tow pad. I took some .06 thousandths sheet
styrene cut it to size and heated it in my oven. I then molded the plastic
over the cargo pod kit. I let the plastic cool a little and then I soaked
the piece in cold water so that it would hold the curve. I had to reheat
the plastic a few times so that I could get the tow pad shaped correctly. I
was surprised that this technique worked so well, and that I did not melt
the plastic beyond recognition. I glued the two halves of the dorsal
together and glued the tow pad onto the bottom of the dorsal. I filled the
seams and set the dorsal aside.

The Navigational Deflector was an interesting challenge. There is some
conjecture as to the shape of this structure. The STM shows a spire type of
structure ending in a globe with the Deflector attached to the globe. I
bought a Navigational Deflector and a planetary sensor array from Accurate
Parts for the top of the structure, and the dish for the bottom. Now I
needed the spire to connect the two parts. I cut a piece of sprue about 1 ½"
long and sanded it down into to point. Now I needed the
globe for the end of the spire. For this, I bought some beads at a craft store. I
glued a bead to the end of the spire. I glued the Navigational Deflector
onto the bead. Then I sanded down the planetary sensor array so that there was
no dome on it, marked off the center and drilled a hole into it. I
attached the thus modified Planetary Sensor Array to the bottom of the saucer. I
left the deflector off until after painting.

Next, I glued the two halves of the Warp Nacelles together. Filled the seams and
set them aside. Once the putty was dry, I sanded down the seams. I glued
the new Flux Chillers onto the Nacelles. I also drilled new holes for the
Intercooler Units. I glued styrene strips into the Pylons to give them
extra strength and support.

I ran into a problem at this point. There are
no bottom views of this ship available. I turned to the Starship Modeler
Discussion forum where I got a lot of great advice. Andy Henshaw sent me some
great views of the bottom of a project he is working on, as well as some
views of the shuttle bays. I measured out the placement of the Pylons on
the bottom of the ship and drilled holes into the bottom of the Saucer for
the Pylons. I tested the fit and they worked pretty well. I did not glue
the Nacelles to the hull yet.

I glued the two halves of the Saucer together. Once the glue set, I filled
the seam that ran around the edge. I bought an accurate Impulse Deck to
replace the inaccurate one that came with the kit. I had some problems
getting this part flush with the ship. It took some sanding and a lot of
putty to get the part flush. With the Impulse Deck in place, I sanded down
all the seams on the saucer.

With assembly of the saucer complete, I glued the right Warp Pylon and
nacelle into the Saucer with CA glue. I then sprayed on a little
accelerator. Once the glue on the right side had set, I moved on to the
left pylon and did the same thing. I was surprised at how the well the two
pylons attached to the saucer. There were a few gaps around the attachment
point. I poured epoxy into those gaps as filler and to strengthen the
joint. I sanded all the seams around the pylons once the putty and epoxy
had cured. I glued the Bussard Collectors to the front of the nacelles, and
filled and sanded the seams. Then I glued the end caps on to each nacelle.
Since the schematics did not show the ridges that came molded on the Ertl
end caps I sanded them off.

I glued them to the nacelle before I glued
the nacelles to the ship. I glued the Flux Constrictors to the underside of
each nacelle, starting with the centerpiece and working outward. Then I
glued the Reactor control loops onto each nacelle. Finally, I glued the
Intercooler Units in place. I filled and sanded all of the seams on the
detail parts and the Nacelles were completed.

To finish assembly of the Tug I glued the Dorsal and the tow pad onto the
bottom of the saucer. Some major seams needed filled. Once the putty had
cured, I sanded down the seams.

With the Tug complete, I moved onto the Cargo Container.

Cargo Container

To build my Cargo Container I bought SFSM’s Cargo Container kit. I have
built a few of SFSM’s models before and thought that this one would be
pretty simple to assemble. I built the kit as a Starliner. I thought the
Starliner would make the model a little different. However I ran into so
much trouble trying to get the seams filled and hidden that I abandoned the
Starliner and decided to build a standard Cargo Container. I used a piece
of 2 inch PVC piping, to make the body of the container. I used the two
Cargo Container end caps that came with SFSM’s kit, and glued them onto the
pipe and filled the gaps with putty. After it set I sanded it down. I had
the Cargo Container built in two days.

The Tug was airbrushed with three coats of Light Gray. I painted the
Nacelle end caps, Flux Chillers and Reactor Control Loops Gray. I painted
the bubbles on the end caps and the bridge dome White. The Intercooler
units were painted Light Gull Gray. The Impulse Engines and Phaser Banks
were painted Gunmetal. The trough in between the Bussard Collectors and the
nacelle was painted Black. The Navigational Deflector was painted with a
metallic Brass. For the Bussard Collectors I tried a different technique
that was recommended to me by a friend. I painted each Bussard Collector
silver. Then I painted thinned Tamiya clear red over the silver, building
up the color slowly. This gave each Bussard Collector some depth, it also
made the Collectors appear as if they were a clear styrene part instead of
being opaque. Once the Bussard collectors were painted I glued the
Navigational Deflector into place.

The Cargo Container was also airbrushed with three coats of Light Gray. The
only details on the Container are the attachment points on the bow and the
stern. I painted each one Gray.

Detailing

With the painting done I moved on to detailing the model. I had removed the
inaccurate grid that was on the top of the saucer. I drew in a new grid
pattern using a pencil, compass and ruler. It took me a few tries to get
the grid laid out correctly. I also added a grid to the bottom of the
saucer. I also added navigational lights and Phaser Banks with styrene
bits. The Navigational Lights were painted red, green and white. I
airbrushed a few coat of gloss coat onto the model and set it aside to set.

Decals

For decals I turned to JTGraphics. The decal sheet retails for $20.00 and
includes everything needed to make the model truly accurate. The window
decals replace the inaccurate ones molded on the kit. I had the decals
customized so I could christen the ship U.S.S. Tionesta, after a town in
Northwestern Pa where I spent a lot of time as a kid at my family’s cabin.
The decals, as always, went on easily and gave the model the right look I
think. I gave the decals a day to set. After the decals set I airbrushed a
few coats of a clear flat coat onto the model.

Finishing

To finish the model I glued the Cargo Container onto the tow pad and the
Navigational Deflector onto the bottom of the saucer. I airbrushed a few
light coats of Euro 1 Gray onto the model to dirty it up a bit. I don’t
think these ships were maintained in pristine condition. I made a stand for
the model out of a wooden plaque and dowel rods. I made a custom dedication
plaque, and found a Starfleet Transport Command logo on-line I laminated
both of these and attached them to the base. I then applied two coats of
polyurethane to the base.

I started this project thinking that it would be a cheap alternative to
buying a new kit. Boy, was I wrong. All totaled, the project cost me about
$77.00. Most of that cost was in the Cargo Container kit and the decal
sheet. I started the project in late September and it took me about five
months to complete. The project was challenging but enjoyable.
I am extremely happy with the way the model turned out, because this was my
first major kitbash project. With Polar Lights’ new Constitution Class kit
on the way I’m sure it won’t be my last.